Berry Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

1 Stale Cubed Loaf of French bread (or we used the cinnamon bread from Kneaders!)

3 cups fresh or frozen Berries, (we used Blackberries/Raspberries Blueberry mix)

1 Tbl cup of White Sugar (for berries)

2 cups Heavy Cream

1/2 cup Milk

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla

½ tsp of ground cinnamon (hold this out and 2 tb spoons of brown sugar if you use the loaf of cinnamon bread from Kneaders).
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

4 Eggs

Pat of Butter, to prep baking pan & 2 Tablespoons of Butter

Directions:

Prep the berries a few hours before hand by thawing them out (if frozen) and adding 1 Tbl of white sugar. Combine the heavy cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large saucepan.  Heat over medium heat stirring to dissolve the sugar and bring to a low simmer.  Remove the pan from heat and ladle 1 cup at a time into the egg mixture whisking after each addition.   Pour into the bowl with the bread cubes and berries.  Gently stir to coat all of the bread.

Pour into a prepped baking dish (can prep with butter or spray), poor on melted two tablespoons of butter and bake at 350 for 25 minutes covered with aluminum foil.  Remove foil and continue baking an additional 20 – 25 minutes or until bread is crisp and custard is set.  Serve warm with whipped cream if desired.

Makes 8-12 servings

Topping Option 1:

Whip together a pint of whipping cream, half a pinch of salt, tsp vanilla and ¼ cup of white sugar

Topping Option 2:

Whip together the following

4 oz Cream Cheese (half pkg)

1 Cup whipping Cream

4 oz Marscopone

1/8 Cup White Sugar

½ tsp Vanilla,

 1/8 tsp salt

1 tbls berry sauce or jam